STORIES

If our lives are a book, the cars we drive define the chapters.

These are stories featuring cars, trucks, and even RVs that played a role in the lives of the people who owned or drove them. Many are set in Fort Stockton, Texas and involve a cast of characters in and around the dusty southwest Texas town. A lot of the stories are shared around the table at The Grounds for Divorce, where the ‘regulars’ meet.

Pull up a chair and let Lucinda pour you a hot cuppa joe and enjoy.

  • THE LIST, Part II

    Vic Volente knew Mayor Goodman as well as anyone.  The mayor was indeed quick to attempt to make money on the city’s involvement in Vic’s last wishes being made a reality.  When Franklin Danbury met him in his office at City Hall and provided the details of Vic’s will regarding the matter, the mayor was furious.  He was…

  • THE LIST, Part I

    It wasn’t uncommon for ol’ Vic Volente to not be seen around town for long stretches of time.  He kept to himself a good bit. “It wasn’t that he was unsociable. . . .” Sister Thelma started to say when they were talking about him around the big round table at the Grounds for Divorce. “It…

  • FROM THE BACK OF THE BERMUDA, 1/19/2025

    “All I’m saying is, at any point during that whole ride through the desert he could have given the horse a name.”  When I walked into the Grounds for Divorce yesterday, the debate was already taking place.  Chad had apparently staked out his ground on the old song from the group called America that I hadn’t thought…

  • A DAY IN THE LIFE

    Tara Browne was a child born to wealth and privilege.  His father, Lord Oranmore, served in the House of Lords for 72 years, which was longer than anyone else had ever served up until that time.  Perhaps more importantly, his mother Oonagh Guinness was heir to the Guinness fortune.  With a long serving, wealthy father and an incredibly…

  • PROBING QUESTIONS

    AD Calvert was an enigma in Fort Stockton in 1973.  More questions than answers. Nobody was quite sure exactly how old he was, him not actually being from Fort Stockton.  The long locks of blonde highlighted curly chestnut hair made him appear to be young.  The beard, dark and well groomed, suggested otherwise. People didn’t know exactly what…

  • DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS. OR GERT GIDDINGS.

    Today’s story is dedicated to Cornfield Dave’s aunt who just passed. No idea if she was anything like Gert Giddings, but I think a lot of our aunts from a certain generation were cut from the same cloth. Condolences and a tip of the hat to Dave on the loss of someone special. Know that…

  • REDEMPTION, Part III

    Colton Caldwell was riding a wave of success that was more addictive than any drug.  The high he got from closing more deals was almost as good as the one he got from being seen in the new bustle back Cadillac Seville around Fort Stockton.  Colton had moved down to the cubicle next to the middle aged…

  • REDEMPTION, Part II

    In the early 80s most people would have been embarrassed to be in telemarketing.  Colton Caldwell was, despite Shannon’s positive affirmations regarding his career choice.  Such was the time period, what with Reagan at the helm, that Fort Stockton seemed like a shining city on a hill.  Or at least by a lake.  Material abundance was almost considered an…

  • REDEMPTION, Part I

    Colton Caldwell had only ever met three successful salespeople.  The first one was in the Pecos county lockup, where he’d spent Thanksgiving of 1981, for reasons that aren’t relevant to this particular part of the story. The jail was so overcrowded that inmates had to sleep head to foot on thin foam pads that the county…

  • FROM THE BACK OF THE BERMUDA, 1/12/2025

    I want to discuss grandparents for just a minute. I suspect a lot of readers of the blog are grandparents themselves.  If not, chances are they will be someday.  Or maybe remember their own grandparents from years past. I happened across a picture of my own grandparents the other day.  Just the two of them, standing in their…